Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Dear Google, Thanks For Copying My Startup But You’re Doing It All Wrong

willweinraub.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 134 posts

Re: Dear Google, Thanks For Copying My Startup But You’re Doing It All Wrong

#61

Post by AznHisoka »

deong wrote: post #55

I hate to be that guy, but for some reason I'm unable to let this one pass by. It's trivial, and in no way reflects on his point (to the degree that he has one...the article is shockingly light on any concrete information), but for some reason this bugs me. > This is more like a squeeze bunt back to the pitcher and you're out at first base. You're supposed to be out at first base on a squeeze bunt. That's what a sque…

A squeeze bunt also results in a run. Which is appropriate because maybe Google is doing this to indirectly improve their brand or another business area.

Re: Dear Google, Thanks For Copying My Startup But You’re Doing It All Wrong

#62

Post by iLoch »

deong wrote: post #55

I hate to be that guy, but for some reason I'm unable to let this one pass by. It's trivial, and in no way reflects on his point (to the degree that he has one...the article is shockingly light on any concrete information), but for some reason this bugs me. > This is more like a squeeze bunt back to the pitcher and you're out at first base. You're supposed to be out at first base on a squeeze bunt. That's what a sque…

Maybe LiveNinja is the player on third :)

Re: Dear Google, Thanks For Copying My Startup But You’re Doing It All Wrong

#64

Post by talles »

"What I’m seeing when I look at Helpouts is some of the exact same mistakes we made over a year ago, while our company was still in private beta."

The guy should to a short intro on the situation, put this paragraph an then lists all what is wrong with Google's approach and why they are the one got it right.

Instead the article feels like a lot of mixed paragraph s with the author feelings or whinings with no point at all.

Re: Dear Google, Thanks For Copying My Startup But You’re Doing It All Wrong

#66

Post by hbharadwaj »

shadowmatter wrote: post #40

I'm not going to lie, I didn't like this post as much as I wanted to. The author says that Google is making the same mistakes that LiveNinja made over a year ago. And that LiveNinja has learned a lot and iterated since then. At this point, I'm ready to believe that LiveNinja is the more mature product. That if I have a need, I should probably go to LiveNinja. I'm ready to be sold... But then the author does nothing.…

Maybe he wants Google to buy his company

Re: Dear Google, Thanks For Copying My Startup But You’re Doing It All Wrong

#67

Post by pfranz »

bluetidepro wrote: post #27
kin wrote: post #9

Great attitude. I've known a start-up or two that either pivoted or dropped their project altogether at the news of Google releasing a similar idea. Google is great at engineering, but the new iteration of Google Maps is proof IMO that they're not a great at products. With that said, I'm sure y'all at Live Ninja will throw the knock out punch.

I know it's slightly off topic, but your comment " ... the new iteration of Google Maps is proof IMO that they're not a great at products. " I'm curious as to what you don't like about the new Google Maps? Personally, I think that while it took a little bit to get used to, it's great and works way better than before. I'm just curious to hear your two cents on what you don't like about the new maps. Thanks!

Here are some of my personal rants on the new interface.

I hate how it zooms on every single search. Before, it would only move the map when your search result wasn't visible on the current map. If I'm searching for something, 90% of the time it's in my area and I want to know where it is relative to everything else. Now I always have to zoom out to get context (and they keep moving zoom UI element around--it's gone from top-right, to top-left, to bottom-right).

I cannot figure out how to use street view anymore. Looking at it now, I can kind of access it next to photos of a venue, but many times the venue is on a street corner or down an unmapped alley so you don't get to choose where you're looking from. They no longer show you what is mapped and what isn't and you cannot change your view from a top-down map. Last week I was searching near two similar street names (foo ave and foo st, for example). The one I wanted wasn't mapped and it snapped me to the other street, but I didn't know this.

They added a loading screen to the main page. Before you'd see tiles as they'd load, now you see a grey screen and the whole map fades in. This is terrible if you have a spotty connection. It also takes you longer to orient yourself since you can't see any landmarks until the entire page completely loads. Thankfully there still is progressive loading when panning/zooming (which, I think, was one of Google Maps original killer features).

Re: Dear Google, Thanks For Copying My Startup But You’re Doing It All Wrong

#68

Post by Aldo_MX »

shadowmatter wrote: post #40

I'm not going to lie, I didn't like this post as much as I wanted to. The author says that Google is making the same mistakes that LiveNinja made over a year ago. And that LiveNinja has learned a lot and iterated since then. At this point, I'm ready to believe that LiveNinja is the more mature product. That if I have a need, I should probably go to LiveNinja. I'm ready to be sold... But then the author does nothing.…

I have mixed feelings, right now I'm experiencing a similar story with a project I have, and at this point I'm frustrated because whatever feature or differentiator I add, my competition takes it, at this point I feel like I'm the one shaping my competitor.

I can only spend ~4 hours/week to this project and I'm the only person behind it, whereas my competitor has ~20 active contributors, so I'm starting to get dismotivated enough to continue with the project...

Considering that my competition is stealing whatever I do, and considering that I don't have the resources to compete with them, I don't see much options...

Post reply on HN